Time Makes You Bolder
by itainthardtryin
Summary: It's Brittany's birthday. Now that they're a couple Santana is determined to make up for lost time. Pure fluff.
1. Chapter 1

It's Brittany's eighteenth birthday and Santana's freaking out a little. Sure she's been there for all of Brittany's birthdays since she turned five, but she's never been in the role of girlfriend and she's never had to worry about the meaning of her presents. Before, when Santana gave Brittany a bracelet with a heart on it, it was a friendship bracelet, but now if she gave that same present it would be a sign of love. Santana's scared. She hopes she gets the meaning right.

Brittany's mom told her to come over at five for the party. Santana loves that Brittany still has a traditional party every year even though, by society's standards, she's long out grown it. Brittany says it's mostly for her little sister's benefit, but Santana knows that's a lie.

When she gets to Brittany's house she's greeted with balloons and banners on the exterior. One is bought from a store and is pink with "Happy Birthday!" written on it. The other is handmade and says "Happy Birthday Brittany!" drawn on with mutli-coloured crayons. Santana likes that one best.

She knocks on the door and waits to be let in. This house may be her home away from home but she's Brittany's partner now and she respects the rules of the house. There's no more sneaking about and, even though at times it's a pain when Britt's parents say Santana can't stay for the night, she loves being able to be open about their relationship so she doesn't mess with the hierarchy.

The door swings open a few moments later and it's Julie, Brittany's mom, who answers.

"Santana! Brittany will be glad you're here! She's upstairs getting ready, you can go on up if you like."

"Thank you, Mrs P," Santana says politely before Julie steps to the side to let her past. It's Friday night and Santana seen Brittany in school only two hours before but she misses her. It's her birthday, and she should be with her girlfriend for her birthday. All of it.

"Hey Britt!" Santana calls out as she approaches her bedroom. "Britt?"

"Just a minute Santana," Brittany shouts from behind the closed door of her en suite. The door opens a few moments later.

"I'm so glad you're here," Brittany says before Santana wraps her arms around her waist and pulls her in for a kiss.

"Happy birthday baby," she says and she can feel Brittany smile on her lips. She swears it feels like her own birthday, she's that happy. "You look beautiful," she manages to whisper when she finally looks at what Brittany's wearing. A knee length blue sundress, her hair tied up in a messy ponytail and a flower in her hair the same shade as her dress.

As much as Santana would love to spend the whole night like this, just holding and staring at her girlfriend, she knows they have a party to attend so they join everyone else in the kitchen just in time to see Julie starting to light the candles on Brittany's cake. It's covered in pink icing with a ballerina on the top that Santana knows Brittany will keep in her memories box that's under her bed.

Everyone gathers round the table and they sing Happy Birthday before Brittany blows out her candles and her mom is shouting for her to make a wish. Brittany looks at Santana quickly before she closes her eyes and smiles. Santana can't help but wonder what she's wished for, but she knows Brittany won't tell her. She's a firm believer that if you tell someone a wish it won't come true.

By eight o'clock they've played nearly every party game in the book – musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and pass the parcel, to name a few. Santana almost won pass the parcel but 'accidentally' dropped the present so it landed in Brittany's lap just as the music stopped for the final time. Everyone's exhausted and Santana's getting nervous. She still hasn't given Brittany her birthday present.

After saying their goodbyes and Brittany hugs every member of her family – both immediate and extended – who have showed up for the party, they leave for Santana's house where they're spending the night. Her parents are out of town visiting her aunt in Boston and won't be back until Monday, so she has a free house all weekend.

"Did you have fun?" Brittany asks when they're halfway back to Santana's house.

"You know I did, but tell anyone at school that the highlight of my week was beating your seven-year-old sister at pin the tail on the donkey and I don't think this relationship is going to last much longer," Santana says with a smirk.

"Okay, your secret's safe with me, but just remember – I have blackmail material now so you have to be extra nice," Brittany says playfully.

"Babe, I'm _always_ nice and you know it"

They both look at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.

"Okay, okay! Let me rephrase – I'm always nice _to you_."

* * *

><p>Santana's nerves are hitting boiling point when she pulls into the driveway of her house and the lights are off. She didn't tell Brittany they'd have the house to themselves. She wanted it to be a surprise.<p>

"Where are your parents?"

"Oh right yeah, they're in Boston for the weekend. I have a free house."

"Really?"

"Really."

The smile on Brittany's face as she steps out of the car, along with the look she gives – as if she's stripping her with her eyes alone – is enough to make Santana's heart feel as if it's going to come out of her chest.

* * *

><p>She hopes Brittany doesn't think this is stupid. It's the first time they've been a couple on one of their birthdays and Santana just hopes she gets this right. She has a track record of fucking up. She hopes this is the start of her track record of getting things right.<p>

Brittany likes surprises so Santana's walking behind her, hands covering Brittany's eyes, guiding them towards her bedroom. Every few seconds she says things like 'watch the step' or 'okay, nearly there'. When they reach her bedroom door she makes Brittany promise to keep her eyes closed for a few seconds while she turns the light on.

"Okay, you can look now," Santana says.

Brittany opens her eyes and Santana hears her gasp. Santana's room is unrecognisable. The bed has been pushed to the side so there's more floor space. Where the bed used to be there's a fort. It's made out of blankets and sheets of all different colours and has a duvet and some pillows inside. On top of the fort, draped over the sheets, are lots and lots of coloured lights – the same ones that are on a Christmas tree. It's magical.

"Santana, I…"

"I thought we could just spend the night together. It's my first time being your girlfriend on your birthday and I just wanted to make it special. I thought we could just hang out in a fort like we used to when we were kids – no TV or laptops or cell phones – just me and you, talking and laughing and stuff."

"It's perfect. It's the best birthday present ever," says Brittany, still looking around the room trying to take it all in.

"This isn't your present, B," Santana says. "This is just to set the mood."

"Oh – I just thought – So, you still have to give me my present?" Brittany's excited now, like a child on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, B. Get changed first though so we can get in the fort and then I'll give you it," says Santana handing Brittany one of her t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.

They crawl in together and lie down on the duvet and pillows. It's surprisingly comfortable and Santana congratulates herself on doing something right. They both lie on their back facing the roof, their fingers interlocked at their side. The only light in the room is coming from the coloured lights on the roof. From inside the fort they're duller, but still bright enough to appreciate. They lie like that for a while, in comfortable silence, before Brittany speaks.

"Thank you."

"What for? I haven't even given you your present yet."

"Just… this. I'd forgotten how much I loved doing this, just lying beside you."

Santana runs her thumb over Brittany's knuckles before leaning to the side and pressing a light kiss to her cheek.

"I have to give you your present now," Santana says, getting up. Brittany protests a little but Santana continues. "Trust me." Brittany does, with her life, so she lets Santana go.

Thirty seconds later Santana climbs back in beside Brittany and hands her a neatly wrapped box. It's no bigger than a shoebox, and is wrapped in white paper with red ribbon and bow.

"Open it," Santana says. "But then give it to me."

Brittany is confused but Santana gives her the same look she did a minute ago that said 'trust me', so she doesn't question it.

Brittany tears the ribbon and paper off and lifts the lid off the box. Inside is a book. She's seen it before. Santana's carried it around with her in school sometimes and it's been inside her locker nearly every day for the past week. Brittany lifts it out but doesn't open it. The front and back covers are plain blue. She doesn't know what it is, so she hands it to Santana like she promised.

"I know you used to love stories and we used to sit in a fort like this one when we were kids and read to each other. So I wrote a story for you… to read to you," Santana says, willing her nerves not to get the better of her.

"You wrote me a story?" Brittany says, shocked.

"Yeah, I'm not very good at storytelling but I tried. Can I read it to you?"

Brittany just nods and sits up slightly, looking at her girlfriend with total adoration. Santana opens at the first page, clears her throat and starts reading.

"Once upon a time there was a girl who was locked in a tall tower. She spent all day, every day in that tower on her own and no-one could ever get to her. She wanted to escape but she couldn't. There was no easy way down and she was too scared to climb out her window in case she fell.

"So the girl stayed locked in her tower and continued to look out over the land at the trees and the rivers and lakes and wonder what it would be like to be able to explore them. Then, one day as she was looking out her window, she noticed a princess standing on the ground at the bottom of the tower. She couldn't see the princess properly because she was too far away, but she could tell that she had beautiful blonde hair and was the prettiest girl she'd ever seen. None of the princes compared to her.

"The princess had heard about the girl's struggle to escape the tower and she wanted to help her. The princess started to shout at the girl. She tried to offer her advice on how to escape, but the girl couldn't hear her properly because the tower was so tall. The princess tried to climb the tower but she could never reach the top. Still, the princess stayed there. She waited at the bottom of the tower because she knew that the girl would manage to get out one day.

"Somewhere along the way the girl in the tower began to fall in love with the princess. That's when the tower seemed to get even bigger. She'd considered jumping out of the tower so she could see the princess in person, but she was still too scared of falling. Even if the princess would be there to catch her, the girl was still too scared.

"Then, one day a dragon came through the woods. His eyes were full of evil and he noticed the girl in the tower. He noticed how much the girl loved the princess and he thought she was a coward for not jumping out of the tower. So he decided to give her a helping hand. The dragon began to blow fire at the bottom of the tower and set it ablaze.

"The girl could see the flames moving up the tower slowly and she knew they were going to reach her eventually. She started to panic and she knew that the only way to live would be to jump. She was going to have to jump – the one thing she'd never been brave enough to do. She stood at the ledge of the window and willed herself to let her body fall, but she couldn't do it.

"The dragon watched as she stood on the edge, wanting to jump but being unable to do it. He decided to give her no choice. The bottom of the tower had begun to crumble so he swiped it strongly with his tail and made the tower fall to the ground. The girl began screaming and crying. She was falling and she couldn't see the princess anymore. She was more scared of the princess not being there to save her than she was of dying.

"She closed her eyes and waited for the moment where her life ended; when she hit the ground, but it never came. Instead, she landed on something soft. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was in the princess' arms, and they held her protectively so the dragon couldn't hurt her again.

"When the girl saw the princess up close for the first time she couldn't believe how beautiful she was. No amount of looking from the top of the tower compared to even being able to look at her for one second on the ground. She looked around at everything else too. Everything was new and everything was scary. She was familiar with her surroundings, she'd looked at them every day from the tower, but now that she was free to explore them it felt amazing. Amazing and scary.

"But the girl was weak. She'd been stuck in her tower for so long and she'd almost been burned by the dragon, so she was weak. The princess took her in and kept her safe and nursed her back to health. When the girl was better, the princess kissed her and in that moment the girl knew that she should have jumped out of the tower long ago."

Santana stopped reading and closed the book. Brittany just looked at her in amazement. She understood everything perfectly. How Santana was the girl, how she was the princess, how the tower was Santana's fear of coming out, how the dragon had been Finn. She understood it all perfectly and she swears that no-one on earth could have ever had an accurate definition of love until they existed in that moment. She took the book out of Santana's hands and ran her fingers over the handwritten words on the first few pages. The majority of the book was blank.

"How does the story end?" Brittany asks, wondering.

"I don't know, but I can't wait to write it with you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is going to be a three part fic :)**


	2. Chapter 2

They woke the next morning impossibly close to one another. Brittany's arm was laced around Santana's waist, her other tangled in her hair on the pillow. Both of Santana's hands were covering Brittany's where they rested on her stomach.

Santana was first to wake but she didn't want to move and disturb Brittany. She just lay there feeling Brittany's body rise and fall with each breath she took. The sound of her breathing was soft and steady and it relaxed Santana in a way nothing else could. She remembers that, if she doesn't fuck up again, there's a possibility that this is the way she'll wake up, every day, for the rest of her life. She's usually scared of commitment and forevers, but today it only relaxes her more.

Brittany stirs around fifteen minutes later and Santana rolls over so they're face to face and presses a soft kiss on her lips.

"Happy birthday baby," she says.

Brittany brings her hands up and wipes the sleep out of her eyes before replying, confused.

"San, it's not my birthday anymore. That was yesterday. Remember? You gave me presents and… _presents_," she emphasizes the second mention as she pulls Santana's hips closer to her as a reminder of just the sort of presents she was talking about.

"You think I'd forget that, Britt? Seriously? I'll be remembering last night for the rest of my life," Santana replies, laughing. "I know it was your birthday yesterday but I've decided to extend it and make it a birthday weekend. I want to make up for all those other birthdays when I should have been your girlfriend but I wasn't. So you're having a birthday weekend."

Brittany's face lights up in a way Santana's never seen before. She wasn't this bright after winning sectionals or even after she won class president.

"And I've got you another present, but you'll get it later," Santana says as Brittany pushes their noses together and gives her a kiss.

"Santana you didn't have to…"

"No, I didn't, but I wanted to. For you."

* * *

><p>Two hours later they're in the park walking beside each other but not holding hands. Brittany hasn't tried to show any affection in public. She knows Santana's not hiding them anymore, but she also knows that the people in Lima are judgemental and sometimes there are worse things than just a glaring look that could happen to an openly gay couple here. Just look at what happened with Kurt and Karofsky.<p>

Santana brings them to a halt on a bridge with a small river under it. She leans over the side and watches the water flow beneath them.

"What are you looking at?"

"The water. We're going to play a game," Santana says, turning to face Brittany who is smiling from ear to ear at the mention of the word 'game'. Santana reaches into the shoulder bag she'd brought with her and retrieves a small package before giving it to Brittany.

"Open it."

Just like the previous night, Brittany takes no time in pulling the paper off and opening the box. She lifts out the contents.

"Rubber ducks? What sort of game are we going to play with rubber ducks?"

"Pick one. The one you want to be yours. I mean, they're both yours – you can keep them – but for this game one of them has to be mine."

Brittany examines them carefully and Santana smiles at her because she's taking this far too seriously for her own good. The first duck is pink, is covered in flowers and has a purple beak. The second is yellow with a red beak, like a typical rubber duck, but it's wearing a sailor's hat and has a neck scarf on.

"This one," Brittany says, holding the pink duck in her hand and giving Santana the yellow one.

"Good choice, Britt. It means I get the sailor," Santana replies, smiling. "Okay, follow me."

Santana takes them down a small dirt path beside the bridge that leads to the riverbank. The river isn't deep but the water is flowing fast enough for this to work.

"Okay, so we're going to have a race. Both of us put our ducks in the water here and the first one to reach the next bridge wins. If your duck wins you get your present now. If my duck wins you'll get it later but, because I won, I get to do something that makes me happy. Deal?"

Brittany smiles back at her, her face the picture of excitement. "Deal," she says before they shake on it, making it official.

They lean down at the bank and place their ducks in the water beside each other.

"You can say when to go, Britt."

"On your marks… get set… GO!" she shouts, and she says it with so much force that Santana almost forgets to leave go of her duck, giving Brittany an early lead.

They scramble back up to the path and follow it alongside the river. The next bridge is about fifty meters down from this one so it won't take long for the race to be over. Brittany's duck gets temporarily held back by a log floating in the water and loses the lead, then Santana's decides to go sideways instead of straight on so they end up level pegging again.

They reach the bridge before their ducks do so they have time to fish them out with a stick and they don't keep on going. Santana knows how upset Brittany would be if she didn't get to keep the ducks, especially after the fun they've had here.

With a few meters to go, Brittany's duck gets stuck in the bushes that are overhanging the bank leaving Santana's duck to sail on and win the race. She leans down to pull it out of the water with a stick she found on the bank, while Brittany reaches into the bushes and retrieves her own. Santana hands the yellow duck with the hat back to Brittany.

"I told you the sailor would do me favours," Santana says. "So now I get to do something that makes me happy."

Brittany's bottom lip is jutting out in a pout because she lost and it gives Santana the perfect excuse to do the only thing that would really, _really_ make her happy.

Brittany's shocked when she feels Santana's lips on her own. Santana's never so much as held her hand outside of the security of Glee club or their homes, so to be kissing her in public, on a Saturday afternoon, in the middle of the park is entirely new. It's not a scared kiss. It's not a peck that she's pulling away from two seconds later. It's a proper kiss. It's deep and sensual and they're lost in each other; it's everything a kiss should be.

Santana pulls away after long moments, but doesn't open her eyes right away. She wants to make sure she's committed everything about what just happened to memory. The first time they kissed in public as a couple. She's been dreaming about this for years and not one of her dreams compared to reality. As they both open their eyes and look at each other, they can't see anything else. Brittany speaks first.

"I…That felt amazing. No, it felt… What's a word for better than amazing?"

"Perfect?"

"Yeah. That felt perfect," Brittany says, stroking her hand over Santana's cheek before they both lean in and their lips meet for a second time. This is definitely something they can get used to.

* * *

><p>They spend the rest of the day walking around the park holding hands because, once they'd started being open in public, they really just couldn't stop. It was worth the risk.<p>

Santana could see that Brittany was getting impatient waiting for her present but was being too polite to say it.

"I've really enjoyed today, Britt," Santana says while they walk.

"Yeah, me too. But I like this – _she squeezes Santana's hand in her own_ - and this - _and places a quick kiss on her lips_ – the most," she says with a smile.

"Do you want your present now?" Santana asks, knowing the answer already.

"Only if you don't have another game for us to play."

"No… I don't… at least not for now." Brittany looks at her with that 'what are you planning!' and 'how did I ever get so lucky to have you?' face and Santana swears she'll do anything and everything she can to keep Brittany this happy.

She reaches into her bag again like she did earlier, and pulls out a box that's roughly the same size as the one that held the book the night before. She hands it to Brittany without saying anything, but leads them both to sit on a bench at the side of the path so Brittany can open it.

When they sit down, Brittany starts taking the wrapping paper off, but she's doing it slower now. She's starting to want to really take in all of these moments because if the last two presents are anything to go by, it's going to be something special. She doesn't want to rush it.

It takes a few seconds longer than it did the last two times, but Brittany opens the box and looks at what's inside. She gasps.

"Santana… How… Did you keep… Oh, my God."

In the box is a framed picture of both of them when they were nine years old. They're both wearing those paper hats that you get from a cracker – Brittany's is blue and Santana's is red. They're sitting on the floor playing with Lego, building something that closely resembles a house. The smile on both of their faces is the brightest thing in the picture.

Below the photograph in the frame are two party hats. One blue, one red. They're a little worn and have a few rips in them. After all, they _are_ nearly a decade old and made of tissue.

"How did you get these?" Brittany asks, her finger tracing the photograph over the frame.

"I took them home with me that day. You took yours off so you could put on a Santa hat, so I kept it. I think…," Santana pauses and takes a breath before she continues. "I think that was the day I fell in love with you. I didn't know what love was back then or what it meant to be in love, but I remember building that house with you and thinking that I'd like to build a real house with you and live together. When we finished building the house we made our dolls move in and you played with a blue Power Ranger and I had a Barbie and we made them be married. You pretended that you were coming home from work and I pretended to be making you dinner and I remember thinking that I wanted that with you in real life, not just with toys. I didn't know what that meant back then but maybe if I did it wouldn't have taken us so long…"

Santana trails off as she starts thinking about how that day was nine years ago and it's taken her that long to actually admit how she felt. She starts beating herself up internally and Brittany can see right through her.

"Hey," she says, taking Santana's hand in her own. "You weren't ready back then. There's no way we would have worked if you weren't ready. I mean, I know you were far from ready when that election ad aired but you came out to your abuela on your own. You've accepted yourself now and that's why we work. It doesn't matter how long it took you, you got there in the end."

"Yeah, you're right. We're here now and there's nowhere else I'd rather be." Santana leans her head on Brittany's shoulder and they both look down at the picture in her lap, silently reminiscing about how simple things used to be back then.

Brittany doesn't tell Santana that she still has that blue Power Ranger and Barbie in a box under her bed for safe keeping because she thinks maybe that was the day she fell in love too. She thinks she'll leave that for another day.


	3. Chapter 3

If Santana was nervous about this whole birthday weekend thing on Friday, by Sunday it didn't show at all. She loved making Brittany happy more than anything else, and Brittany's smile really hadn't left her face since she saw the fort two nights before, so maybe this really was the start of Santana's track record of getting things right.

She has one more present to give Brittany though, so she's not going to count her blessings too soon. This is the one that really matters. This is the one that cost money and she hopes Brittany likes. The others were just homemade gifts, but this one is bigger. She's hoping with every last part of her being that she can pull this off.

Brittany's sitting on the couch in the living room watching some reruns of Friends when Santana joins her.

"Happy birthday," Santana says, as she sits down beside Brittany, pulling her close.

"I could get used to this birthday thing," Brittany replies, wrapping her arms around Santana.

"Well, don't get too used to it because today's the last day, babe." Santana thinks that the pout on Brittany's face is the most adorable thing she's ever seen. "But you still have one more present from me. I can't give you it though, you have to find it."

"I have to _find_ it? Did you lose it?"

"No, Britt, I hid it."

"Why would you do that?" Brittany's face scrunches up with confusion and Santana really wishes she'd stop being so cute because it's making it hard to concentrate.

"So I can give you clues. It's a game, just like the duck race yesterday. I'll give you a clue and you have to figure out where to go, then the next clue will be there and you have to keep doing that until you find your present. They're all in or around my house, so you don't have to go far, okay?"

Brittany's sitting upright now, almost bouncing on the couch with excitement. She nods enthusiastically.

"Okay, here's your first clue," Santana says, handing her a small post-it note with a few words written on it. Brittany examines it carefully.

_Let's light up the world tonight._

Her brow narrows in confusion and she starts to think out loud.

"Let's light up… it's somewhere there's light?" Santana nods. "And it's somewhere we light up at night?" Santana nods again and suddenly Brittany's jumped off the couch and is pulling Santana by the hand. "I know where it is, come on!"

Brittany drags Santana up to her room but stops in the doorway and looks around. There's a light on the roof, two bedside lamps and lights on the floor from the fort. Brittany rules them out because they were a one off. She rules out the light on the roof too because there's nowhere to hide any clues on it. So that leaves the bedside lamps.

She walks over to the one that's on her side and lifts it up. She examines it thoroughly – runs her fingers over the shade, turns it upside down, looks at the empty spot on the table where it had been. Nothing. She walks to the other side of the bed and lifts Santana's lamp and immediately she sees a bright yellow post-it note stuck to the back of it.

"I found it! I found it!" Brittany all but screams at Santana, who is still standing at the doorway, smiling. She's not giving Brittany any more help than the clues on the post-its – that would take the fun out of the game.

"Well… what does it say?" Brittany looks at the post-it and reads it out loud.

_The songbirds keep singing, like they know the score._

"Okay, you could have at least made this one a challenge, S!" Brittany shouts again, grabbing Santana by the hand, leading them downstairs and out the front door. At the side of Santana's house is a large tree. Along the base is a worn out patch of grass where they used to play when they were younger, because they liked hearing the birds sing from above them. Pinned to the trunk of the tree is a pink post-it.

"Got it!" Brittany says excitedly, before reading it out loud again to Santana.

_Oh, mirror in the sky what is love?_

"Mirror in the sky? S, I can't get to the sky," Brittany says sadly.

"Read it again," Santana replies softly.

She repeats the clue over and over again to herself. After saying it aloud for the seventh time, it clicks.

"You've got it haven't you?" Santana says, smiling. Brittany doesn't reply. She just nods and sprints into the house, leaving a laughing Santana to follow and catch up.

They're upstairs and Brittany's back in Santana's room. She doesn't hesitate this time; she just walks right over to Santana's dresser and sits down in front of the mirror. Around the frame are pictures of both of them at various ages. It's Santana's rule that no-one else is allowed to be in the pictures around this mirror, just them. Brittany starts to take the pictures off the frame one by one, blue tacking them back in place when there's no clue on the back.

The fifth one she lifts is a strip of four pictures from a photo booth. In each of the first three pictures they're both making funny faces – sticking their tongues out, puffing out their cheeks, laughing. The last photo was taken before they were ready. They're staring at each other; Santana at Brittany's eyes, Brittany at Santana's lips. You can see Brittany's hand halfway up to Santana's face. Seconds after that picture was taken it rested on her cheek and they had kissed.

Brittany looks at the pictures and smiles before turning them over to find an orange post-it note folded in half stuck to the back. She peels it off and unfolds it, reading the clue out loud. She laughs while she reads it.

_My cup, my cup, sayin' what's up to my cup_

"My cup. Seriously, Santana? _Seriously?"_ she laughs.

"Do you know how hard it is to choose lines from songs we've sung in Glee club to help you find these? But that song was kind of my favourite…" Santana says with a smirk on her face, her tone turning playful. She walks over to Brittany and pulls her out of the chair by her hand, before putting her arms around her waist. Brittany picks up on the change of mood and plays along.

"Oh yeah? Why was that?"

"I don't know… maybe it was because the girl who was singing it was really, _really_ beautiful… or maybe it was because her voice sends shivers down my spine or maybe," she gives Brittany a small peck on the lips, "Maybe it was because the words were so meaningful, I mean I could _definitely_ relate to them…"

Brittany leans in and kisses her passionately, bringing her arms up around Santana's neck and running her fingers through her hair. Santana moans at the contact and pulls Brittany closer with her arms around her waist. They're lost for a moment and Santana starts thinking about the bed that's only a few meters away from them, about how she wants to just run her hands up and down Brittany's body, exploring every inch of it.

When Brittany pulls back a few moments later, she's left dazed.

"Okay, so… my cup. That's gotta be in the kitchen, right?" Brittany asks and Santana just stares back at her, she'd forgotten they were even in the middle of a game; she was far too caught up in the feeling of Brittany's body pressed up against her own.

Brittany's already halfway down the stairs before she stops and looks back at Santana, who still hasn't moved. "Are you just going to stand there all day?" Brittany asks.

"No, that… that just caught me off guard," Santana says bringing her finger up to touch her lips, where the feeling of Brittany still lingered.

Brittany makes her way back up the stairs into Santana's room and reaches up to take the hand from her lips and kisses it delicately before walking them downstairs, fingers laced together.

When they get into the kitchen, Brittany goes straight to the cupboard where the cups are kept – she knows Santana's house like her own. She reaches in and takes out a cup that's got Mickey and Minnie Mouse on it that she brought Santana back from Disneyland when she went with her parents when she was younger. It's the cup she always drinks from when she's at Santana's. Inside is a green post-it.

_She hid around corners, and she hid under beds_

"Santana, we just came from upstairs! This is like a workout!"

"It wouldn't have been fun if they were all in the same room, Britt, now go… It's the last one," Santana says, and she's running after Brittany like a child without even having a moment to think about it.

They're in Santana's room for a third time and Brittany's already down on her hands and knees, looking under the bed and feeling around. Santana doesn't have much under there apart from a few old teddies and old cheer uniforms so Brittany finds the blue post-it quickly. She sits up on the bed before reading it.

_Hey Brittany, you say you wanna lose control  
>Come over here I've got something to show ya<em>

She looks up at Santana immediately and the first thing she notices is how she looks nervous all of a sudden. Like, really nervous. She stands up and walks over to her. "You've got something to show me?"

Santana remains silent and takes an envelope out of the pocket of her hoodie. She hands it to Brittany without saying a word. Over the seal, Santana's written something.

_No other city ever made me glad except…_

Brittany takes them in before opening the envelope, wondering what Santana could have got her. If she had've looked up she would have seen Santana almost shaking in anticipation.

Brittany slips the contents of the envelope out quickly and unfolds the paper. The first one is a confirmation for a hotel; the second is a confirmation for flights. Both are dated for July 2012.

"New York?" Brittany all but whispers. "We're going… to New York?" She can't believe it. How did Santana even afford this? Holidays weren't cheap; she knew that from going to Nationals. New York definitely wasn't cheap.

The paper tells her that they're going for four days – from Thursday to Sunday. Four whole days of both of them – just them – in New York City where they can love each other without worrying what people will say.

Brittany's crying and she sits down on the side of the bed. She hasn't looked at Santana yet because she's in shock. Her voice is small when she speaks again. It's raw and full of emotion.

"We're going to New York? Just the two of us?"

Santana nods. "Yeah, if you don't want to go it's okay… I just thought after how much you loved it when we went with Glee last ye-"

She's cut off with a kiss. It's as raw and as full of emotion as Brittany's voice was. After a few long moments she pulls back and looks Santana in the eye. They're both crying now.

"How… Where… This is far too much Santana," Brittany says.

Santana shakes her head in disagreement.

"No, you're wrong. It's not _enough_. God, there's so much we've missed out on and I swear I'm going to spend the rest of my life making sure we do all of those things and more."

Santana's still talking but Brittany can't help the tug in her chest when Santana speaks about spending the rest of her life with her. She thinks that this is what it must be like when someone proposes to you.

"We didn't get to hold hands in New York or do all those couple things like take a walk in Central Park or go to see a Broadway show or wake up beside each other in the morning. I wanted those things so much and I thought I'd never get to do them because I'd missed my chance. I don't know how or why, but you gave me a second chance and a third chance and about a hundred more after that and I missed them all until I was forced to face this head on. I think I'm on something like my one hundred and fourth chance now and I'm not going to let it go to waste."

"We've been together as a couple for three months Britt, but I swear we've actually been together for years. I've missed out on being your girlfriend for Christmas and Valentine's Day and birthdays and I'm going to make it up to you."

"So no, it's not enough. Nothing is ever going to be enough," she finishes. Brittany definitely thinks that this is what it's like being proposed to. Standing there listening to the person you love more than anything telling you all the things they want for you both and how much they want to make you happy.

She's still speechless, but when Brittany leans in to answer Santana's speech with a kiss, she silently promises herself that when they're in New York she's going to do the same for Santana. She's going to tell her all the things she wants for both of them and how she wants to make her the happiest girl on the planet. She's never been great with words, that's always been Santana's thing, but in six months' time, when they're sitting on a bench in Central Park and she makes her speech and pulls the ring out to accompany it, Santana won't be great with words either.

There'll only be one word in her vocabulary at that moment.

"Yes."


End file.
